Welcome Back!

Dear Librarians! 

We trust you are all well-rested and have enjoyed a wonderful summer.   We have been busy at the SLS, but despite the fact we work all summer, we still feel a bit behind-the-eight ball, for the start of school.  This year, with alphabet soup (APPR, SLO, DDI, RttT, RTI,...) everyone seems to be overwhelmed with the amount of "preparation" that has to take place for September.  Welcome on the roller coaster ride of 2012-2013.  We hope you enjoy the journey! 

The SLS hopes to navigate some of the rough waters with you and is here to answer some questions. Here are some basic thoughts:

• State Ed has recently released a video regarding librarian SLO's.  The link to this has been added to our SLS Website:  click here   SLO's are under definition, and the latest ruling indicates that "librarians without a roster, are not subject to SLO's or APPR.  The SLO page discusses the details on this issue.  Please read.
• The SLS has been part of the regional assessment development  (RAD) team, creating pre and post assessments for those librarians needing to write SLO's.  Hat's off to the 24 librarians who joined us this August to learn about assessment and write sample questions for the libraries.  These Reagional Assessments will be available to our WSWHE BOCES districts at now charge.   See the SLO page for additional details.  click here

• Usernames and passwords have been sent to email addresses and we trust all your links are working.   email  databaseinfo@wswheboces.org   if you need assistance, or call.  We are here to help you.  

• The General Membership meeting is currently scheduled for October 4th.  We will be talking about:  the librarian's role in meeting Common Core objectives,  Infographics and their role in packaging a data as a knowledge product, non-fiction resources for CCSS, and our newly published "booklet" on Synthesis and Questioning.  Bring a great non-fiction book to share.  

• We will be hosting a "special" speaker on Copyright and Digital Ethics on November 29th.   We are negotiating now with a national voice.  Please mark your calendars and plan on joining us.  Invitations will be sent to librarians and Technology team leaders to join us for this day of discussion.  All attendees will receive Carrie Russel's new book on Complete Copyright for Educators, published by the ALA.    This was funded through a small grant and will include a new Plagiarism and Piracy website for teachers and students.  Stay tuned for more information. This topic aligns with CC ELA Standard number 8, and we are hoping this is a "different" CCSS discussion than many educators are hearing.
• Professional Journals will begin circulating next week.  Please do your best not to create a "log jam" and read and move them to the next person on the list in a reasonable period of time. 

• Secondary libraries now have EBSCO's 
  Point of View  funded by the SLS, for CCSS support.    More information will follow.   Please watch the training guide below and use the icon picture for your webpages, that you may maintain for student/teacher access.  Tutorial for Point of View: http://support.ebsco.com/training/flash_videos/POV/pov.html                                                                               On this page, you can find other “tutorials” that you can share with your teachers for other products that you might have ordered: http://support.ebsco.com/training/tutorials.php
• NOVEL has not announced which encyclopedia resource they are funding for NYS use.  We are waiting anxiously, not wanting to waste your money purchasing something that will be funded by NOVEL.  Therefore, please be patient another week, as they told us it would be announced...last Friday.  Here is an annoucement they made: 

The NOVELny instance of Gale's Business and Company Resource Center will be switched over to Business Insights: Essentials at 9 am on Friday, August 31.  The URL will remain the same.  For more information about Business Insights: Essentials please see http://www.cengagesites.com/Literature/782/gale-business-insights-global-essentials/.

 webinars will take place on the dates below.  See the corresponding URLs to register. 

September 6, 10:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. <http://s2138.t.en25.com/e/er?s=2138&lid=9675&elq=f4630ad9a09949a596e3edd583efc6b4> (ET)

September 10, 2:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m. <http://s2138.t.en25.com/e/er?s=2138&lid=9676&elq=f4630ad9a09949a596e3edd583efc6b4> (ET)

September 18, 2:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m. <http://s2138.t.en25.com/e/er?s=2138&lid=9677&elq=f4630ad9a09949a596e3edd583efc6b4> (ET)

September 27, 12:30 p.m. 1:30 p.m. <http://s2138.t.en25.com/e/er?s=2138&lid=9678&elq=f4630ad9a09949a596e3edd583efc6b4> (ET)

October 2, 10:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. <http://s2138.t.en25.com/e/er?s=2138&lid=9679&elq=f4630ad9a09949a596e3edd583efc6b4> (ET)

If you have questions about the database please contact Gale at http://access.gale.com/noveltech/ (to submit questions online) or gale.technicalsupport@cengage.com or 1-800-877-4253 (press 4).